Sorcery

The word “sorcery” is well suited to the harlot’s concoctions. Her work is to lead people astray by her sorceries. What is sorcery? It is deception. It is the attempt to bring people to a goal without having to follow those laws that God has ordained for achieving it. This is why rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. 1 Sam. 15:23. People do not want to go the way that God has ordained, yet they want to obtain the same result. By sorcery they can obtain a result instantaneously—they conjure it up. By her sorcery the harlot has deceived all the nations. Let’s look at a few examples.

God has given us laws by which we can have a good conscience before Him and all men, but there is a way to it. In the “Lord’s Prayer” we read, “And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” Jesus explains this further when He says, “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7.

“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” James 5:16.

“‘And if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house.’” Luke 19:8-9.

These verses show us the way: to confess, to forgive everyone, and to put right all that we have done wrong. Generally speaking, the harlot does not protest against this; she simply omits it from her preaching. And then she adds, “As long as you believe in Jesus, His blood will cleanse you from all sin.” She preaches so persuasively that you come to believe it and receive a good conscience—but without confessing your sin, bringing your life into the light, making restitution, and forgiving others. Thus you have been bewitched, you have been deceived. You may feel like you have a good conscience, but you haven’t gone the way. Your house does not have a foundation, and on the day of trial it will fall. You must live according to God’s Word. Then you build your house on the rock, and then your house will stand.

God has given us laws by which we can become His children. Jesus says, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven, for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matt. 5:44-45. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” Rom. 8:14. “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.” 1 John 2:29.

The way to salvation is simply to be obedient. Our first parents fell because they were disobedient. But now Jesus has become the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him. Heb. 5:9. The harlot agrees that we should be obedient—to a point. But she neglects preaching it, and she replaces obedience with “faith.” Yet Paul had not received apostleship only to lead people to faith. He labored to promote the obedience of faith. Rom. 1:5. This is where the harlot’s sorcery becomes clearly evident. She turns faith into something magical, something imaginary. She wants us to believe that it is so, but not to look closely enough to see if it is real. The golden cup, which she has unfailingly and eagerly given the people to drink, is: “But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.” Rom. 4:5. However, we are not only to drink of the cup, we must also examine the spirit in which it is used. It is wrong to use this scripture to comfort someone who calls himself a Christian but lives in sin. On the other hand, if we say this to an ungodly person who sorrows over his sin and wants to get converted, it is quite appropriate. Now the harlot preaches untiringly that “Jesus has done everything and we can do nothing”; in other words, no obedience. “We shall only believe. We are under the blood. God sees us through Jesus as if we had never sinned. Salvation does not depend on us; it was finished nearly 2000 years ago, and I am hidden in Jesus’ shadow through faith that He died for me on Calvary, and God does not see me but only Jesus.” This is what they say.

However, it is difficult for most people to rest in this kind of faith if nothing positive is happening in their lives, and so they become distressed and troubled. Then they are told that they must not look at themselves, but simply look unto Jesus—a direct contradiction to Paul’s exhortation to Timothy, “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine . . . .” 1 Tim. 4:16.

They claim that if you have the right faith, it doesn’t matter what kind of life you are living. However, Luther, in his preface to the epistle to the Romans, says, “It is just as impossible to separate works from faith as it is to separate heat and light from fire, or to separate two sides of a leaf.” In other words, if you believe, you have works; and if you have no works, you do not believe. This excludes all sorcery. If you believe that Jesus died for you, you will no longer live for yourself, but for Him who died for you and rose again. These are Paul’s words. 2 Cor. 5:15.

As far as the harlot is concerned, faith is purely sorcery, something impersonal that does not need to affect our personal life. This becomes very evident in what a bishop relates in his book. He came to an island where the local priest met him and asked what he should do about the storm of controversy that had arisen in the district over the subject of baptism. Since the bishop was there on a pastoral visit, the priest asked him to clarify the issue. This is what the bishop wrote about his pastoral visit:

“As I stood before the cross with rows of children in front of me and the congregation standing in the aisle, in the corners, in the side aisles, and in the gallery, I felt as empty and uneasy as anyone could feel. I did not possess so much as one idea, let alone any plan—not even a point from which to begin. But I had to say something, so I said, ‘My children, can these little ones who are to be borne to the baptismal font have faith?’ I was very sure that they had the right answer ready from what they had learned at school and from their books. ‘No!’ came the resounding reply—a great chorus of ‘No’s.’ I could have fallen over backwards!

“‘Oh, so you say that little children like these cannot have faith,’ I continued. ‘All right then, let me ask you another question: can a little baby like this have a bankbook?’ Now the children were quite sure of themselves and they virtually roared, ‘No!’

“I felt a smile go through my entire being. ‘Now I’ve got you,’ I said. ‘So a toddler cannot own a bankbook? Let me tell you what I did last Wednesday. I baptized a little baby boy named Idar Bjørn Skog. He has a bankbook. But why did you answer that he and other babies could not have one? Because you believe they are too small. A bankbook is something you get by earning and saving, and a little baby cannot do that. But you forget one thing; we can have a bankbook given to us. And now, you adults who are present: have you and I not asked ourselves many times whether God can really receive an infant who cannot believe? Where is our mistake? We imagine that faith is something that we ourselves can produce, an achievement that God recognizes and accepts as a foundation upon which He can receive us as His children. Our reasoning tells us that when we are mature enough to believe like that, then being baptized makes sense. But I would not know where to turn if God required some sort of achievement from me as a condition for entering into His kingdom! God is not like that! He gives; He also gives us faith. Surely it is far more difficult to give an adult the gift of God. Adults are much more stubborn and unreliable vessels to receive God’s gift than a little infant who is brought to God to be christened, because an adult’s mind is filled with opposition and enmity toward God. Nevertheless, He does not reject us. Surely it is not easier for God to give His gift to an adult mind than to this little baby, is it? No, we must learn all over again what faith is before we can speak any further about infant baptism and understand it correctly. Faith is not my personal achievement; faith is God’s gift to me in Jesus Christ. And now, children, tell me, do you think we can take little infants to God and baptize them into God’s kingdom?’

“‘Yes,’ they replied warmly. It was so quiet in the church that all I did was whisper ‘Amen.’ It was loud enough, anyway.”

So much for the bishop!

Now we must ask the question: Could a little child accept a bankbook and make use of it? If the child cannot accept faith and make use of it, how shall the child benefit from it? But perhaps the godparents are supposed to receive faith and make use of it on behalf of the child, even though they are unsaved and are at their best in the bars playing cards? I believe all these people agree with the Swedish priest who said, “Leave my infant baptism alone! It was the first and last time in my life that God could give me all that He wanted to without me standing in the way.”

“No,” we are told, “we must not examine these things so carefully and try to reason it all out. We must simply believe that the child is born again by using a few drops of water, making the sign of the cross, and uttering ceremonial recitations.” It does not seem to bother them if the child grows up and lives in sin. Many claim that even though they curse and swear, they are not heathens because they have been baptized and confirmed. As long as they receive the sacraments before they die, they will rest securely in their faith. The priests and pastors “bewitch” them into heaven.

Of course, the harlot cannot find support in the Bible for her doctrine on infant baptism. Even the bishop, when he began to explain it, said: “I felt as empty and uneasy as anyone could. I did not possess so much as an idea, let alone any plan—not even one point from which to begin.” Of course it is not easy when you don’t even have a single scripture to build on. Nevertheless, even without a scripture, the bishop did manage to turn the children’s understanding around to agree with the teachings of his denomination. Even he thought that this was a fortunate turn of events. This incident should open the eyes of all those who are upright to the sorcery that so many preachers of the Word practice.

Without the golden cup, the harlot cannot manage to keep the people drunk for long, so she has to have something to give them, so she reads: “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.” Luke 18:16.

However, do we read anything about baptism in this passage? It is quite evident from the context that Jesus did not baptize any of them, even though He baptized quite a few adults. John 3:26. But He did bless the children, because of such is the kingdom of God. But some people may reply: “Yes, but the jailer in Acts 16:27-34 was baptized with all his family. Surely his family included small children?” Not at all. We cannot suppose that, since the passage makes it quite clear that this was not the case. Read carefully the whole account again. “Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house . . . . And immediately he and all his family were baptized . . . having believed in God with all his household.” (Emphasis added.) Acts 16:27-34. This passage tells us clearly that all could hear, and that they believed, which they did not do before, and that they were all baptized. Read also Acts 8:36-37.

If the harlot had said that baptism was only a blessing, then at least she could have found some support in Jesus’ words. However, she teaches that a child is born again in baptism, and she says: “The child is born in sin and iniquity, and when the child is carried to the church, it is a child of the devil; but when it is taken home again it is a child of God”—contrary to Jesus’ words that “of such is the kingdom of God.” But the harlot holds out the golden cup again and says, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” John 3:5. Now I want to ask you, can the flesh of a child be born again and become holy? Doesn’t the new birth take place in the mind? Col. 1:21. Is it not evident that a day must come later on after the child has matured, that he needs to be born again? It is evident that the harlot’s attempt at conjuring up a new birth with infant baptism fails the test. Jesus says, “The seed is the word of God.” Luke 8:11. James says that we are brought forth (born) by the word of truth. James 1:18. In other words, before children can be born again, they must be mature enough to come to faith through the word of truth, just like the jailer’s family did. This agrees with what Paul says: “That He might sanctify and cleanse her [the church] with the washing of water by the word.” Eph. 5:25-26. Then we are born by water and the Spirit. Jesus also says, “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” John 15:3.

Paul says that when one of the marriage partners is a believer, the children are holy; otherwise they would be unclean. 1 Cor. 7:14. Here we can see the parent’s responsibility. Be not deceived by the harlot’s sorcery, you who are not a believer. Do not believe that everything is in order just because you have had your child christened. Not at all! Jesus says, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them.” This is your responsibility. You must show your child the way to Jesus. You don’t do that when your child hears you cursing and using foul language, or when you come home drunk, or when the child hears you quarreling with your marriage partner. Perhaps you never encourage your children to go to Sunday School, or never take them with you to a meeting. Perhaps you even refuse to let them go, and yet you think everything is in order because you had them christened? Then you are thoroughly bewitched.

The harlot is afraid of losing the grip she has on people through the sorcery of her infant baptism. Her preachers condemn those who baptize a second time, who reject infant baptism and insist that little children are blessed without having to be baptized.2

To all this sorcery belong not only the recitation of formulas and the sign of the cross, but also the vestments. When the priest puts on his vestments, then he becomes a priest; it doesn’t matter so much what the man is really like. As long as he is wearing his vestments, whatever he does is holy. The “Lord’s Prayer” is far more weighty when he reads it with his vestments on; this also applies when he reads God’s Word in general. Here is a quote from the 8th article of the Articles of Confession of the Norwegian Lutheran Church:

What Is the Church?

“Knowing that the church is in fact and in truth the assembly of the saints and of the believers, it is nevertheless permitted—seeing that in this life many hypocrites and evil persons are mixed up with them—for them to take the sacraments, even though they are administered by evil people, according to the word of Christ: ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat,’ etc. Matt. 23:2. Therefore the sacraments and the Word are effective on the basis of Jesus’ command, and that He instituted them, even though they are administered by evil people.”

They condemn the Donatists and others, who taught that it was not permitted to make use of an evil person’s ministry in the church, and who maintained that the evil person’s ministry was useless and ineffective.

How different this is from God’s Word, which says, “But to the wicked God says: ‘What right have you to declare My statutes, or take My covenant in your mouth?’” Ps. 50:16.

They are like those to whom Jesus spoke in Matthew 23:25: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.”

We have to agree with Luther, when he writes in his pastoral letter to the mayor, town councilors, and parishioners of Bohemian Prague:

“To begin with, we must regard as an unshakable truth that in the new covenant no man can become a priest by virtue of an outward anointing. So, if there are those who purport to be such, we can be sure that they are not the genuine article but are mock priests of idolatry. They have no scriptural example to point to in support of their claim; their own life certainly does not legitimatize their ‘anointing,’ nor is there one word in the Gospels or the Epistles that does. On the contrary, this entire system of things originated and was made the standard practice by pure human invention, just like the idolatry of Jeroboam in Israel. To become a priest in the New Testament sense of the word, one must be born as such, and not made; created, and not ordained to it by man. However, this birth is not according to the flesh, but by water and the Spirit and comes about in the washing of regeneration, which is why all Christians as a whole are priests, and all priests are Christians. And cursed be the thought, we can say, that a priest is anything more than a Christian! Such claims oppose God’s Word and are based solely on the doctrines of men, traditional ordinances, or on the opinion of the masses. If anyone, for any of these reasons, should institute articles of faith, it would be an abomination—yes, even blasphemy (which I have pointed out elsewhere) . . . .

“We therefore draw the following conclusions: If Christ has become the first priest of the new covenant without rank, outward anointing, or priestly signs, and without the bishop’s ordination and monkey business, then it is equally true that He has made His apostles and disciples priests without all this tomfoolery, which is why this absurd custom is utterly superfluous. Even where it is practiced, it is utterly incapable of making anyone a priest. Otherwise one would be obligated to say that neither Christ nor His apostles have ever been priests.”

Luther discovered that attacking sorcery was an unpleasant task. People do not like the naked truth, because they feel exposed by it.

The great harlot is not the only one who knows all these tricks; her daughters know them too. In fact, all those who divide their hearts between God and the world practice sorcery. So that we shall not be deceived by these tricks Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruits.” We cannot recognize them by their outward appearance, because they come in sheep’s clothing. What is this sheep’s clothing? It is the so-called “right doctrine.” The scribes sat in Moses’ seat, but their life and teaching did not agree. Yet who dared to say anything when they sat in the seat of Moses? They were only teaching what was approved and accepted, and in that respect they had the “right faith.” It is the same today. If you only preach what is accepted as correct doctrine, you will be approved. Then you have the right clothing, and no one will dare to think that underneath your clothing lurks a ravenous wolf who speaks so charmingly. Watch and you will see that they are constantly arguing about points of doctrine—about the clothing—but they do not want to talk about the life—the fruits. For those who are not entirely bewitched, it is disgusting and repulsive to listen to two people sitting and arguing about points of doctrine, while they smoke their cigars or have a bad conscience because they have cheated on their income taxes; or perhaps they have knowingly underpaid their house servants, owe money to the merchants, have backbitten their neighbors, or live an immoral life. If anyone dares to comment on their lives, they only draw their sheep’s clothing more tightly around themselves and say, “It is written: ‘Judge not, that you be not judged.’” And so they save the wolf—for the time being, at least.

When two men who are bound by the love of money sit and argue about whether infant or adult baptism is right, there is nothing else to say to them except, “Repent of your harlotry!”

Jesus calls the false prophet a wolf in sheep’s clothing. An ungodly person who has God’s laws on his lips, who confesses one thing and lives a different life, is a false prophet. We must beware of such people. The apostle expressed it like this: “Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.” Heb. 13:9.

If the food—the doctrine—I serve to others has not profited me (that is, changed my life), the others should not accept it. It lacks the grace that is able to strengthen hearts. Listen to how grace works: It “teach[es] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.” Tit. 2:11-12. “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” Rom. 6:14. This is the true gospel, a message of glad tidings to anyone who has a desire to have his life transformed. This is anything but sorcery.

In order to remain undetected in their sheep’s clothing, the false prophets always reply with the old refrains, “Don’t look at me, just look at Jesus. We must not judge one another.” What do the true prophets say? “Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.” Phil. 3:17. “Therefore I urge you, imitate me.” 1 Cor. 4:16. If someone were to say that today, he would be regarded as a proud, false teacher. But if we said, “Don’t look at me, look at Jesus,” we would be considered humble, someone who has the right doctrine. The harlot has truly bewitched all the people. How true the word of the prophet is: “Behold, the false pen of the scribes had made it [God’s law] into a lie.” (Norw.). Jer. 8:8. “And the children of Israel covered the Lord their God with words that were not right.” 2 Kings 17:9 (Norw.).

From the above, we see that there are three key words the harlot uses in her sorcery. With them she gets out of every tight spot and fulfills all the promises. These three words are:

Faith—Grace—the Blood

Who dares to attack these words? For by them we are Jesus’ friends without doing what He commands us. John 15:14.

We are in Him without walking as He walked. 1 John 2:6.

We are children of God without being led by the Spirit. Rom. 8:14.

We are Jesus’ bride without following the Lamb wherever He goes. Rev. 14:4-5.

We receive a bridal garment without having righteous deeds. Rev. 19:8.

We inherit with Jesus without suffering with Him. Rom. 8:17.

We are allowed to live with Jesus without dying with Him. 2 Tim. 2:11.

We are kings and will sit on His throne without overcoming as He overcame. Rev. 3:21, etc.

How can they do all this by using these three words? They do it by substituting faith for obedience—which is works. “Faith” is something magical that gives them the power to imagine things, and “grace” and “the blood” are words that are used to cover up reality. “Grace” is used to replace a godly life; thus they come under the judgment, “Ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness.” Jude 4. However, as we read previously, grace is help to live a godly life. Heb. 4:16. “The blood” is used to cover up sin instead of cleansing it away. That is why they like to sing, “Under the blood, under the blood.” “But,” you say, “they do regard the blood as a means of cleansing.” Yes, but only in the sense that it does not matter how much you sin, because you are always in the cleansing flow of the blood, and therefore always clean. This is not the way Peter understood it when he said, “And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” 1 Pet. 1:17-19. In other words, the blood is not something to be misused; you must walk in fear!